2027: Utomi-led group to facilitate single opposition candidate against Tinubu, livestream polling units

The Big Tent and Movement for Credible Elections (MCE) under the leadership of Pat Utomi, a professor of political economic and leader of thought, have commenced consultations with opposition presidential candidates as part of efforts to facilitate the emergence of a single candidate to challenge President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election. The pro-democracy coalition is also working on live-streaming of proceedings from all polling units to strengthen the credibility of the polls next year.

The groups said a fragmented opposition would struggle to check what they described as the growing concentration of political power in the presidency, urging smaller opposition parties to build a common front ahead of the elections.

They also said the live-streaming of polling activities and stronger redundancy in the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) result viewing system would help prevent a repeat of the glitches that marred the electronic transmission and collation of results during the 2023 elections.

Speaking at a press conference in Lagos on Wednesday, Utomi said the organisations were working towards a credible 2027 election as part of a broader effort to prevent what he described as the further deterioration of Nigeria’s democratic institutions.

Utomi said the Big Tent’s goal was to ensure “live streaming from all polling booths” during the 2027 elections, alongside “complex redundancy” in INEC’s IReV system to ensure that technical failures would not undermine the credibility of election results.

“Our goal in the Big Tent is to ensure live streaming from all polling booths in the 2027 polls and complex redundancy in IREV offerings such that there will be no room for glitches like in 2023,” he said.

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He urged Nigerians to prepare for a massive turnout in January, describing greater citizen participation as necessary for what he called a new journey of national redemption.

Opposition unity push

Olawale Okunniyi, head of the MCE secretariat, said the organisation would begin a structured engagement with opposition parties to facilitate the emergence of a common front.

He said the initiative was not designed to promote a particular opposition party or candidate but to prevent the concentration of power that, in his assessment, weakens democratic checks and balances.

According to him, MCE would engage the chairmen, secretaries, presidential candidates and vice-presidential candidates of smaller opposition parties as part of efforts to bring them together.

“The Movement for Credible Elections shall be facilitating and mobilising free parties to come together and engage more constructively and formidably the ruling party,” Okunniyi said.

Okunniyi argued that the concentration of power in the presidency, combined with the fragmentation of opposition parties, posed a danger to democratic accountability.

He said the initiative was therefore “pro-democracy” and “pro-the people of Nigeria”, rather than an attempt to advance the interest of any particular opposition party.

“The initiative is not pro-opposition, it’s pro-democracy, it’s pro the people of Nigeria,” he said.

He warned that continued concentration of power without effective checks could eventually create conditions for instability, particularly amid widespread economic hardship.

“If suddenly they have absolute power and nobody is to engage them or challenge them, it will not be in the interest of the ruling party or the rulers themselves,” Okunniyi said.

He argued that failure to strengthen democratic institutions could eventually fuel public anger and instability.

“We are trying to save the country from anarchy and that is the logic behind this project,” he said.

Economic hardship raises concern – Utomi

Utomi also expressed concern over the economic condition of Nigerians, saying poverty, hunger and insecurity had heightened public frustration.

“The state of our nation is troubling. The pain, the hunger and the anger in the land is so palpable you could slice it with a blunt knife,” he said.

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He cited World Bank poverty figures and an International Monetary Fund estimate that about 35 million Nigerians are living with food insecurity.

Utomi also criticised the condition of major economic corridors, citing the Benin-Asaba section of the Lagos-Onitsha highway, which he said had turned into a difficult route for motorists.

He expressed concern over insecurity and declining public confidence in key institutions, including the judiciary, police, EFCC and INEC.

Call for voter registration compliance

Utomi also accused INEC of disenfranchising young Nigerians by stopping continuous voter registration earlier than he believed was permitted under the law.

He said the commission had no justification for taking away what he described as 84 days from the period allowed for voter registration on the basis of administrative convenience.

“INEC must stop wilfully violating the Electoral Act in disenfranchising young Nigerians by illegally stopping continuous voter registration,” he said.

He urged groups concerned about the issue to seek judicial intervention and called on citizens to pressure institutions to comply with electoral laws.